THE POWER OF A SMILE….Part-1

The Power of a SMILE: how it affects your health, beauty, outlook in life and people’s perception of you

by Sohana
The Oxford Advanced Learners dictionary defines a smile as the expression that you have on your face when you are happy, amused etc in which the corners of your mouth turn upwards. Dictionary.com defines it as a pleased, kind or amused facial expression typically with the corners of the mouth turned up and the front teeth exposed. Smiling simply refers to the act wearing a smile on your lovely face. In addition to joy, amusement and pleasure, smiling expresses love, acceptance and affirmation. Charles Reade once said that, “Beauty is power; a smile is its sword.” A smile is also a conversation starter and helps you cultivate good, meaningful and long lasting relationships. Most times, smiles are sparked off by another smile.
Let’s take a look at what you stand to gain by smiling.

For your Health
The benefits you gain are priceless and include:

It boosts your immune system – Research has shown that smiling makes the immune system perform better thereby reducing the chances of the individual to fall sick.

It helps you relieve stress – When you smile, more endorphins are released. Endorphins are hormones that make your body feel relaxed and healthy. This is really great especially when you’ve had a long day.

Smiling helps you lose weight in a healthy way and keeps you fit – People that are overweight are more predisposed to chronic diseases like diabetes, Hypertension, heart diseases (heart failure, myocardial infarction, ischemic heart disease). Hence, it is important to stay in shape at all times. Most people know that you could lose weight properly under stressful and malnourished conditions. While that is true, the method usually comes with anorexia and other terrible diseases like kwashiorkor, pellagra, beri beri, marasmus etc associated with nutitional deficiencies. One healthy way to lose weight in addition to proper dieting and exercise is proper stress relief which could be achieved by sleeping well after a good days work and smiling frequently.

Beauty enhancement
We all love to be beautiful, admired and appreciated. Here’s how a smile can punctuate your glam look:

A smile is beautiful – No matter what you’re wearing, you always slay with a smile!

A smile emphasizes your makeup – Why spend all that time looking gorgeous only to walk around like the world is crashing on you? You are beautiful; let your smile say so.

Smiling makes you look younger – When you have a cheerful disposition; people always think you’re a sweet 16!

Smiling makes your face glow – When you walk into a room full of people, try smiling and watch their reaction towards you. It’s always magical; feels like a queen just stepped in.

How it affects your Outlook in life
Nothing is more important than the way you see things generally. It affects every aspect of your life – mentally, socially, academically, spiritually, physically etc. These are a few ways smiling can help your attitude:

It makes you confident and increases your chances of success – when you smile before an exam or an interview, it gives you this reassuring feel and you just know that everything will be alright.

Smiling shows optimism – Most times great ‘smilers’ are hopeful people. You can be one of them and watch your life turn around!

Smiling boosts your self-esteem – When you smile, you feel amazing. This reminds you of how awesome you are and you realize that nothing can pull you down!

Smiling is peaceful – In the midst of difficult situations, you can reassure yourself with a smile. It always helps. After you’ve had a good cry, don’t forget to smile.

The effect of smiling on People’s perception of you:

People see you as competent: Smiling makes you look confident. When you go for interviews or want to meet with your senior colleagues, lecturers or friends, it is always good to smile. It shows you know why you are there and you would enjoy being there as well.

It endears you to people: Everyone likes hanging around a cheerful person because the attitude is contagious. Smiling would help you make as many friends as possible. This would be very resourceful for you especially if you’re interested in business or politics of any sort. Even if you’re not into business or politics, it is still important for you to smile often because you may never know who would help you tomorrow.

It could be your selling point: A selling point in simple terms is what attracts people to something or someone. In one way or another, we market ourselves so as to make great friends, choose a life partner, sell a brand etc. In order to leave a lasting impression on people’s mind, smiling is necessary. Who knows? You might even meet “the one” because of your elegant smile.

A smile inspires people: Smiling uplifts people’s spirits and reminds them that you still believe in them. Sometimes, it might be your smile that gives them the reason or motivation to go on. Mother Theresa said, ‘We shall never know all the good that a simple smile can do’

A smile brings favour to you: Most polite requests are granted when they are followed by a cute sincere smile. A smile is one of most powerful tools that make you irresistible!

These and many more are the benefits that you can get by just smiling. Don’t forget to smile at yourself and others today; you never know whose day your smile would make! Share this article if you found it helpful. Drop your comments and tell me how a smile has helped you in any area your life. Thank you
Also check out the follow-up article – The Power of a SMILE: Tips on how to Smile when you don’t feel like it!